My bucket list

This will be my last blog for the Times Union. I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had to share, vent, and discuss some of the issues that have crossed my desk and my mind in the last few years.

I am leaving SUNY Empire State College to take a new position back in British Columbia, Canada on Sept. 1, and the time between now and then will be filled with tidying up key projects here, attending 12 of our 14 graduations, and taking a short holiday in Italy.

Oh, yes, we also have to find a place to live, pack and move, drive about 2,500 miles with the dogs, and fly the cat to his new home.

This opportunity came about unexpectedly and was not in our original plan, which was to stay here for about 10 years, and then decide if we’d stay for good or return to our home in Western Canada. The institution I am going to as president and vice chancellor is Kwantlen Polytechnic University which serves a region of about 1 million in metro Vancouver, and, like Empire State College, it is an alternative and exciting university with a strong social mission, and which blends academic and applied studies in unique ways.

So, will I miss New York? Absolutely. And what did I make of my experience here in the Empire State, and in the U.S. during a historic time of turbulence and change? Isn’t every time historic and turbulent now? I witnessed the arrival of President Barack Obama and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and watched the country and the state grapple with a serious financial recession.

More immediately to my work, I served under Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who is likely the best and most inspirational boss I have ever had, and her challenge has been to deal with the huge cuts that the recession forced on SUNY, and at the same time develop and sell us all on a bold vision for SUNY’s future. She has, of course, succeeded magnificently, with stabilized state funding for 2012-13, all sorts of new initiatives blooming across the state, and tremendous optimism among all those who work at SUNY.

Key to SUNY’s vision is a new state of mind for all 64 campuses. By turning our thinking inside out, we must focus on what SUNY can do for the state and its citizens, and not just what makes us look and feel warm and fuzzy (academically speaking). So, at SUNY Empire State College, the leading institution of open education in the state, and one of the leaders in the country, we have developed a proposal for “Open SUNY” that would harness all the innovations in online and open learning across SUNY to better serve every motivated learner anywhere in the state.

Which brings me to my topic: Denise and I have made a list of all the things we were planning to do while in the Northeast, and we realize we have to get busy and do them, complete a sort of mini “bucket list.” Some are close by: visit the Hyde Museum in Glens Falls (done); some a bit more exotic such as visiting Cape Cod (planned) and Coney Island (pending). I am sure my many fans (all three of you) will have other ideas of things to do and see across the state.

If you saw the movie “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, you were likely drawn by the trailer which suggested a carefree romp of two old guys who go wild doing all they had dreamed of doing (skydiving and the like).

Instead, of course, and this is the scam of movie trailers that only show you the big jokes or snippets of the big scenes, all out of context and so very misleading, “The Bucket List” was in fact a sobering and tearful movie about loss, and the difficulties we all have in enjoying the simple pleasures of, for instance, just being part of a family.

I have to say though, that I have no such bucket list. I have tried hard to think of the exciting things I should see or do before I die, but I can’t think of any. I hope that does not make me sound dull and unadventurous, but I consider myself fortunate to have already experienced a great deal.

I have people who love me (crabbiness included), and my dogs think I am a god (my cat, of course, thinks he is). And I have travelled a lot – not everywhere, but plenty – and seen great works of art, and great performances by the world’s greatest actors and musicians of every genre. I’d like to see New Zealand and Australia if I can, and some of South America. That’s about it. All the rest is gravy.

These few years in New York have, of course, contributed so much to this state of nonchalance, since I seem to have been living at warp speed, taking in so much of what the state has to offer. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to explore aspects of history that once seemed rather remote: the War of Independence, the War of 1812, women’s history, Black history and the lives of the rich and famous up and down the Hudson Valley.

Nor did I think I’d sit on the lawn at SPAC and listen to Yo Yo Ma and the Philadelphia Orchestra (and will again this year) or see Liev Schrieber and Scarlett Johannson on stage in New York City, or Bill Frisell at the Village Vanguard, or Pat Metheny at the Bardavon, or Radiohead at Liberty Park.

But the best kind of bucket list is the simplest, such as the inevitability of the seasons: the exotic hot and humid summers, the colorful falls, and the stark beauty that the winter snow brings. And spring. My bucket list is to see as many springs as I can; the frost and snow can never hold back the reddish hue of the buds and the bright greens that follow and change every day, and the early flowers and blossoms that signal new life and new opportunity. I would be happy just to enjoy such springs, wherever I am, for as long as I can.

I leave the best of New York until last: the people I have met. It has been a constant source of amazement to me to work with people who are so engaged, so open, so generous and so passionate about their lives, their work and their country. Canadians, as you know, sometimes go a little wild (at hockey games and the like) but are generally more reserved and somewhat smug about which they perceive to be their better situation (public health care, gun laws, etc.). Of course, Canada also has huge problems of its own, and so it has plenty it really should get passionate about.

Being here I have learned the importance of not sitting back and letting events take over, but to get involved, to speak up, to engage in dialogue and to be bold and clear about what matters most. I see this every day with those with whom I work, and with those I deal with in government and in the communities we serve. It takes courage to stand up and be counted, and, potentially, to be criticized and humiliated.

Of course, there is plenty to criticize, and Americans are also expert at exposing all that ails them; that is the great benefit of free speech, and there is an openness and honesty that I hope I can carry forward as I continue the work of making public higher education stronger and more relevant.

For that “training” in human relations and how to be more courageous, and all the other wonderful experiences, I will be forever grateful to Empire State College, to SUNY, to the state of New York and to the U.S.